Retaining an insert in an electrical connector
First Claim
1. In an electrical connector assembly of the type including a cylindrical shell having an annular groove in its inner wall, a cylindrical insert disposed within said shell and having an outer periphery encircled by said groove with the inner wall and the outer periphery being dimensioned so as to form an annular passageway extending coaxially therebetween, and retention means for retaining the insert within said shell, said retention means comprising a cylindrical retention member of deformable material including a scalloped forward end portion thereof interferencingly fit in the annular passageway between the shell and the insert, said retention means characterized in that a leading edge of each said scallop is curled backwardly and folded into overlapping relation onto itself whereby the curled overlapped scallops of the forward end portion are radially wedged interferencingly in the annular groove and in the annular passageway and lock the leading edges therewithin.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A tubular sleeve of a deformable plastic is longitudinally slotted to define a plurality of laterally separated axially weakened longitudinal columns (62) the respective forward leading edges (64) of which being inserted into an annular passageway (32) formed between an insert (20) disposed in a shell (10) so that the columns curl about and the column medial portions (66) collapse in an accordian-like fashion whereby to radially interferencingly wedge and lock the columns in the passage and thereby to retain the insert in the shell. The curling could be 180° causing the leading edges to retreat coaxially rearward or be 270° causing the leading edges to loop about and be driven radially outward, the leading edges in either possibly engaging its rearward medial portion.
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Citations
12 Claims
- 1. In an electrical connector assembly of the type including a cylindrical shell having an annular groove in its inner wall, a cylindrical insert disposed within said shell and having an outer periphery encircled by said groove with the inner wall and the outer periphery being dimensioned so as to form an annular passageway extending coaxially therebetween, and retention means for retaining the insert within said shell, said retention means comprising a cylindrical retention member of deformable material including a scalloped forward end portion thereof interferencingly fit in the annular passageway between the shell and the insert, said retention means characterized in that a leading edge of each said scallop is curled backwardly and folded into overlapping relation onto itself whereby the curled overlapped scallops of the forward end portion are radially wedged interferencingly in the annular groove and in the annular passageway and lock the leading edges therewithin.
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9. A method of retaining a generally cylindrical insert within a generally cylindrical shell having a forward and a rearward end, the inner wall of the shell including an annular groove to provide an axial face facing rearwardly, and an annular passageway being defined coaxially between the insert and the shell, the steps of the method including:
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reducing the cross-section of the insert whereby to provide a stepped insert having a radial collar therearound, said radial collar defining a pair of annular surfaces, inserting the insert into the rearward end of said shell so that one annular surface is circumjacent to the axial face and the other annular surface is encircled by the annular groove, removing from an elongated strip of plastically deformable non-conductive material a plurality of strip portions whereby to define a strip member having a plurality of scallops in the form of laterally separated longitudinal columns, each column terminating at a leading edge with the thickness of each column being approximately half that of the annular passageway circumposed by said groove. forming the strip member into a cylindrical sleeve having a cross-section corresponding to that of the annular passageway; and axially inserting the sleeve into the passageway a distance sufficient that the leading edges of said columns engage the axial face with continued insertion being with an external force sufficient to cause the leading edges of each column to curl backwardly and upon themselves into overlapping relationship and radially wedgingly fill the passageway with the curled overlapped edges whereby to lock the columns therewithin. - View Dependent Claims (10, 12)
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11. A method of retaining a generally cylindrical insert within a generally cylindrical shell, an outer diameter of the insert being slightly less than an inner diameter of the shell so as to define a coaxially extending annular passageway between said shell and said insert, said shell including an annular groove having an axial face facing axially rearward, and said insert including an annular collar encircled by said groove, the steps of the method characterized by:
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forming a cylindrical sleeve from a piece of deformable nonconductive material, said cylindrical sleeve having a forward and a rearward end and a plurality of generally equiangularly spaced slots extending inwardly from said forward end to define an annulus of axially weakend longitudinal columns, each respective column terminating in a leading edge and having a thickness about half that of said passageway, and coaxially inserting the forward end of the sleeve into the annular passageway until the respective leading edges engage the axial face and then increasing the insertion force an amount sufficient to cause the leading edge of each column to curl backwardly 180° and
into overlapping contact with a portion of itself whereby to form a locked wedged portion therewithin.
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Specification